Ok, here goes nothing!

Honeysucklelou2

Fantastic news. Glad the new job is going well and you are settling into your new home. I'm with you on the joys on countryside living!

LauraB89

Hiiii everyone!!

It's been a while since I was on here, and (to quote Ferris Bueller) - life moves pretty fast!

A couple of weeks ago, we got MARRIED omg - on the hottest day of the year. It was the most amazing day, but in the last month, I ended up going a bit over budget with last minute purchases...

And... we are now expecting (what I hope to be) the first of MANY babies!!

So - three out of my four goals for the year are done;

- buy house - DONE
- get married - DONE
- get pregnant - DONE (eee!!)
- debt free - OOPS

So, it's time to get serious again about my spending.

My debt has crept up to about £4,000 - which is really depressing, because I was very close to paying it all off! But, I am SO ready to kick it's !!!

The current situation is;

- Lloyds Credit card - £3,262.34
- Halifax Credit card - £714.50

Savings;

There is £1,500 in my house account and approx £780 to still come out through direct debits. However, I am not sure of what our water bill is going to be, so I am waiting to see before I use any of this. I should have at least £500 in here leftover at the end of the month.

In my personal account I have about £250 - this needs to last me until 14th July, so just over 2 weeks. I should have at least £100 left in here at the end of the month.

My darling sister owes me £240 - which will go straight off of my card. I am also awaiting the deposit back for a house that we rented for a week - the total was £500, but I am only expecting half of this back because the hot tub water got very murky and they charge £250 to have this cleaned.

So in total, when I get paid, I should have enough from the deposit/my sister and from my wages to pay off the halifax card in full. I am planning on leaving the £500 in my house account for emergencies - gotta have that emergency fund!

In August I am due a bonus of approximately £3,000 - after tax etc, this should be down to about £2,000 and with the rest of my wages I should be able to take the lloyds card down to £1,000.

From that point, I will then need to chuck around £250 a month at it to get it down to £0 by the end of the year. I get my bonus quarterly, and hopefully in November should be due a similar amount and we can use this to start some proper savings.

All in all, now that I have written it all out and I have a plan, I am feeling a lot more optimistic! I think I put a bit too much pressure on myself to buy the house, do the wedding and pay off all my debt at once... But now, I can focus on the debt for the next few months - and then focus on that baby (due in Jan 2018!!).

Now, the most important topic... FOOD.

Last night was fajitas - YUMMY. Tonight we are having chicken pie (leftover roast and veggies from Sunday). I have found cooking a lot harder since the nausea kicked in - as I apparently get my morning sickness in the evening... but I am powering through!

I have also started thinking of budget-friendly ways to pay for the baby - my plan is to make sure that I use as much re-usables as possible so that while I am still getting paid I can front-load the cost and then keep my weekly shop down once he/she is here! So, been researching reusable nappies (one of my sisters used these for all three of her kids) - any advice from anyone here who is using them??
The other is reusable wipes - this for me is a no-brainer. You have a pot of wet flannels and a bag for dirty ones - whack them in the washing at the end of the day - job's a good-un. I also am not a fan of the wipes - I don't feel like they get the baby as clean as a good old-fashioned flannel (controversial, I know).

It's good to be back everyone!

UNRELATED SIDE TOPIC - does anyone watch Eat Well For Less? HOW CAN PEOPLE GO FOOD SHOPPING WITH NO LIST??! HOOWWWWWW??!?!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

LauraB89

Ok, quick update with good news!

The water company has made some billing errors, and I don't owe them loads of money - in fact, my next payment wont come out until August! Happy days - that means that I have £1500 in my account and only £735 due to come out before I get paid again. That will stay in that account as a little buffer!

So with the money my sister owes me (£240) and the money I am expecting back from the house deposit (£265), plus my usual amount that I can pay off each month - I am good to pay off Halifax when I get paid!

Then it's the Lloyds card, which I can slash down by £2,260 in August to £1,000 and before you know it I will be back where I was before the wedding got out of hand!

Then, it's just £250 a month until the end of the year - and I should be good before I go on maternity leave!!!

xxxx

Orange_Ena

Congratulations on all your news!

ChasingSunshine

Congratulations on all your exciting news. Way to hit all those goals this year :T:T

Honeysucklelou2

Congratulations! How exciting!